Spent most of last night and today with the yellow chair people. What silly people they are, but it was great! Meeting today was pretty interesting and funny. It feels good to be around theatre people again.

Caught two local musicals at the arts house. They were staged in a very small, (maybe too) intimate, blackbox setting- Arnold Tan's "Moon People" and Shaiful's "Closer To Your Heart".

The title Moon People might be familiar to some of you as it was originally staged as a 2 hour musical in celebration of Temasek Polytechnic's 15th anniversary. Tonight's was a very condensed 45 minute version. In all honesty, the singing and music aspects in general were better than Closer To Your Heart. However, the storyline seemed awkward at best and the actors weren't really able to effectively bring out the emotions the script dealt with. I also felt the script was a pretty weak one to begin with.

On the other hand, Closer To Your Heart, although weaker musically, stole the show! If I had to describe it in one word, it has to be "raw". It was very minimalist- no fanciful sets or costumes (grey and blacks mostly), not even a costume change throughout the play! Yet, they were able to bring some of the members of the audience to tears with their heart-wrenching performance of a true tragedy. It was beautiful to watch.
Dhaniah's solo truly pulled at heartstrings because her voice was so incredibly suited for the mood and tone of the song- haunting, melancholic and sad.

"Weary hearts
Tired minds
Are What you left me everytime
The answers that I'll never find
The secrets deep down in your mind
I think I give up this time

The many things I've said and done for you
Don't they mean a single thing to you?
Why do you keep doing things that hurt me so?
When will this end?
I can't understand

People say love changes everything
Ours doesn't seem to change a single thing
All this time I've waited just for you, my love
What should I do?
I think I give up on you"

Aishah's moment came during her suicide scene. The visual imagery of the rope tightening around her neck as she sang coupled with the words and emotions brought the whole scene together in a perfect concoction of horror and sadness.

I say bravo and congratulations to the cast- Dhaniah, Yihan, Shahdon, Aishah and Fredrick, for a wonderful performance! :)

Some of you may say that I'm just a biased source, but Yazid who is part of TP's Dramatech agreed that Closer To Your Heart made Moon People look really dumb.

I can't remember what i was thinking about last night but Adlin's session about acting and vulnerability popped into mind.

"Acting begins with vulnerability. For actors to do their best work, they must be willing to be totally open, to experiment and allow all that is inside to be exposed. To accomplish this at the highest levels requires tremendous discipline. Actors work with their emotions, their experiences, traumas, feelings, and memories. Bodies and voices become finely tuned instruments that express and convey the character."

Got that off some film makers website, but it applies directly to stage acting as well.

Suppose it's true though, most of the better, more versatile actors I've known are able and willing to put themselves out there. If you think about it, it's not (just) about facades or masks but analysing a character and tapping into relevant past experiences and feelings, whether good or bad, in order to understand that particular character. Sometimes, it's difficult to be able to do that well because we all have skeletons in our closets. Yet, it is necessary before one can even start getting into character.

Perhaps that's why I dislike acting. I'm not comfortable with opening myself up to the world completely. Suppose there's that issue of control again. Sure, I'm willing to take some risks, but those are always calculated risks. Yes, I really do think about everything I do. Well, maybe not everything but a good 95% of the time at least. I'm sure everything I've ever written here- every thought and idea, even specific words have been jogged about in my mind at great length before you even get to read them.

Hrm. I'm rambling again, and I just lost my train of thought.